A Day on the Water

A huge rainfall (7.5 inches at my home) had just flooded the creeks with muddy water.  My drive to Point Mouillee SGA required crossing 4 stretches of road flooded curb to curb.  On the Huron River in the Flat Rock Dam Pond, lily pads were over topped with a few feet or water.  Point Mouillee's wetland water level was up 10 inches.  The cat tails on the western edges of some cat tail patches had been knocked down by strong winds and uprooted submerged weeds pile up on top of them.  Water clarity was OK and there was more open water to cast...

Kayak Fly Fishing. casting Top Water is a great way to fish this shallow, very weedy water of the Point Mouillee State Game Area. I started at 4:00 and the fishing was very slow.  As the evening bite kicked off at 6:30, I found open patches of water in some cat tail labyrinths.  I had a 3/0 Flashy UV Green HookUp Popper on and the first 3 cast into the first bed room sized pocket all got hit by good sized bass, (the same one??).  The 3rd hit hooked this bass.   Photos tonight. Later the second bass took in a...

Nice low wind day, little competition parked in the Kayak Launch parking lot. Weeds have choked of lots of spots that normally hold fish.   I started with a Hook Up Popper, 3/0 Green Chartreuse.  I got one medium small pike and 16 inch bass in each of the two cattail labyrinths I covered.  There was good open water in the channels and open spaces in the cat tails.   Crossing some shallower water with scattered reeds and pockets in clumps of subsurface weeds, I saw what looked like a big Bowfin, I stopped and changed to a quiet marabou...

 Adding these topwater patterns and sizes to the website soon, sizes 1/0 to 5/0.  Also I finished a small batch of Chartreuse and White 1/0 Bob's Bangers.  The Original Bob's Banger is a slender saltwater fly tied with bucktail for the tail.  For freshwater Bass and Pike I find the Marabou banger works well with larger diameter heads, long marabou tails and lots long of bright opal and metallic flashabou folded to both sides of the tail. The Bullet dog does an easy walk the dog but frequently gets hit better with harder darting sharp rips that move more water...

Fishing for all species of bass.  The first drift down casting a 2/0 White Marabou Banger Hooked two holdover White Bass.  The first one was big as the late hold overs usually are and got off after a hard fight.  The second seemed smallish and was quickly off.  Crossing over to the south side I swithched over to a 4/0 Dive Banger trying for pike along the phragmites wall edges and hooked two, one mid 20s inches which ran toward me and got off,  the second a bit less than 20 inches which I easily let off because he was...